Eventually, the southern kingdom began to deteriorate, so God raised up His prophets who spoke His messages. These men had a profound effect on the nation of Israel.

Years ago in my Sunday school class (yes, the same one where I sang "You Ain't Nothin' But a Hound Dog"), the teacher said All right students, we have two classifications of prophets in the Old Testament: Major prophets and… She said Major prophets and… Finally, someone answered Colonel prophets!

Actually, man has classified the prophets as Major Prophets and Minor Prophets, although these terms are unfortunate because every biblical prophet is equally inspired by God and is equally important.

Though the prophets were uniquely different, they all had basically the same double vision, as follows:

The prophets saw bad news (suffering) for Israel in the short term, and good news (glory) for Israel in the long term.

This was the same picture of the One Who Was To Come—

• Messiah was to suffer in the short term, and
• He was to be glorified in the long term.

In the book of Isaiah, there is this picture of suffering and glory for the nation of Israel and for Messiah — the One Who Was To Come. Seemingly, this is a strange picture. Let us take a look at it.

Certainly, this could be difficult to understand, because Messiah was presented in two [seemingly contradictory] characterizations. That is why many of the Jewish Rabbis came out with the [incorrect] theory that there would be two messiahs, as follows:

1. A suffering Messiah, and
2. A glorious, reigning Messiah

John the Baptist (Immerser) sent word to Jesus of Nazareth asking:

John the Baptist did not doubt that Jesus of Nazareth was the One Who Was To Come, because the word another one means "in addition to you". Correctly stated, John the Baptist was asking:

There was obvious confusion, however, many of the regenerate Jews had a correct understanding about the One Who Was To Come—

To reassure His chosen people and to answer these questions, God sent prophets before, during and after the captivity. Despite the warnings, Judah was taken captive by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 B.C.; and the nation was no longer sovereign. The people of the covenant wondered:

• What about the Royal Line?
• What about the Messianic Kingdom?
• What about the One Who Was To Come; is He not going to come?

During the captivity in Babylon, there were prophets raised up by God, including Daniel, Jeremiah and Ezekiel. What did they do during the captivity? They encouraged the sons of Israel to know that all of God's covenant promises are still valid and that His covenants are unconditional, irrevocable, and eternal. There remains a future for the nation of Israel.

After the captivity, there were additional prophets raised up by God, including Haggai and Zechariah, who encouraged the sons of Israel to know there remained a hope for the nation of Israel.

During the Babylonian period, great changes occurred in Israel and throughout the world.

Who was the great prophet in Babylonian captivity? Daniel — he received revelations from God that gave a sweep of world history beginning with his time.

What are the predictions in the book of Daniel?

1. The world power was to move from the Babylonian Empire (the world power of Daniel's time) to the Medo-Persian Empire, meaning an eastern power was to continue to rule the world.
2. There was to be a dramatic shift of power to the west. He predicted the Greek Empire, under Alexander the Great, would rule the world.

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A Closer Look:

DANIEL'S PROPHECIES SAVED THE CITY OF JERUSALEM

Daniel gave a very detailed account of Alexander the Great's movements.

In fact, in later years Alexander the Great was conquering the world, and he was ready to plow through Palestine on his way to Egypt. There was no doubt that he was ready to ride roughshod over Jerusalem, except God's providence prevailed through the use of Daniel's prophecies.

The high priest and his ministering priests, armed with the book of Daniel, went out to meet Alexander the Great and his armies. The high priest showed them Daniel's recorded prophecies about Alexander the Great. Alexander the Great was so impressed that he spared Jerusalem, maneuvered around the City, and headed down to Egypt.

 

Note: As you can imagine, the book of Daniel is hotly attacked by critics, who deny those prophecies could have been written by Daniel. Do you know why? Daniel accurately pictured what happened. How could he have written the prophecies 150 years before the events actually happened? Omniscient God raised up Daniel to record His message of future world events.

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3. The Roman Empire (Phase I), a power in the west, was to overtake the Greek Empire.
4. The exact day the One Who Was To Come was to announce Himself as King.

 

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A Remarkable Passage:

DANIEL 9:25-26

From Daniel's time forward, anyone who wanted to know the very day that the One Who Was To Come was to announce Himself as King (Messiah's triumphal entry into Jerusalem), he could find it in the book of Daniel. [See our Daniel 9-10 Bible study.]

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5. The new names for the One Who Was To Come—

This is the word from where we get the word Messiah, the Hebrew word for Anointed One.

In Greek, it is the word Christos, which is why in English we call Him Christ Jesus (or Jesus Christ), the Anointed One.

Whenever Messiah Jesus would call Himself the Son of Man, the religious Jews, the Pharisees, would get infuriated. Why? Because He was [correctly] claiming to be the One Who Was To Come.

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